Health hazard?

EU Commission initiates proceedings against TikTok

(Bild: Simone - stock.adobe.com)

The online platform TikTok is not only facing difficulties in the USA, where it is threatened with a ban, but now the EU Commission has also initiated proceedings against the app. The aim is to investigate whether the Chinese company Bytedance is endangering the mental health of minors with the TikTok Lite app and thus violating EU regulations, as the Commission announced in Brussels on Monday.

The Commission is particularly concerned about a task and reward program, as it has the potential for addiction. This allows users to collect points when they complete certain tasks in the app version TikTok Lite - such as watching videos or positively rating ("liking") content. This can be addictive and is particularly worrying for children, as it is not clear that the age of the users is effectively checked.

The EU Commission has already initiated two proceedings against TikTok.(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

The online platform is being asked to submit a risk assessment of the new reward functions within 24 hours, otherwise daily fines could be imposed. According to the Commission, TikTok could face fines of up to one percent of its total annual revenue or global turnover, for example.

Also targeted for possible illegal content
This is already the second case against the Chinese company. Since mid-February, Brussels has been dealing with the question of whether those responsible at TikTok are doing enough to prevent the distribution of illegal content. The main issues here are the protection of minors and advertising transparency. Brussels has already initiated similar proceedings against X (formerly Twitter).